Healthcare is a universal necessity, so patients should always be at the center of care. In 2022, GE HealthCare recommitted to focusing on patients: their clinical outcomes, access to resources, and patient experience. Whether that be in the form of expanding access to lifesaving technologies, helping improve sustainability, or taking on challenges in the healthcare system, GE HealthCare has made care its cornerstone.

Here are some of our favorite ways that the healthcare industry leaped forward last year.

Collaborating to Expand Access to Radiation Therapy

For most cancer patients, radiation is a requisite for recovery. But access to this treatment is not equal to the demand: There are 13 radiation machines for every 1 million patients in the U.S.,[1] which means that the wait between diagnosis and treatment can take weeks. The numbers are even more imbalanced in regions like Asia and the Middle East.[2] Along with the need for personalized treatment plans for each patient’s unique cancer case, accessibility and accuracy are key to improving patient experiences and outcomes. That’s why in 2022, GE HealthCare began collaborations with Accuray Incorporated, Elekta, and RaySearch, industry leaders in precision radiation therapy. These collaborations are part of GE HealthCare’s goal to develop pathways that can help screen patients more accurately, diagnose cancer with greater speed and precision, and develop more effective and personalized treatments to make it possible for people with cancer to live longer and healthier lives.

Passion for Innovation

Jorge Uribe’s love for physics began in a high school classroom in Colombia but became personal years later when he witnessed suffering in his country and within his own family. He was well on his way to his PhD in experimental particle physics when the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted, killing thousands and destroying communities adjacent to his hometown. Later, his father died of a cancer that potentially could have been prevented with better imaging equipment. So it was that Uribe’s eventual career in developing PET/CT systems aligned perfectly with his personal history. After 18 years at GE HealthCare, Uribe has played an integral role in the development of PET/CT technology, including the latest, the Omni Legend. Just as Jorge helped a childhood neighbor source the first PET/CT system in his area, he’s turned his mission of making lifesaving imaging accessible to rural regions into a reality.

Monitoring Patients at Home

If a pregnant woman or a patient with atrial fibrillation has a funny feeling something isn’t right, there is now another option. Now, with at-home monitoring technology and under the care of their physician, patients can administer simple tests or scans to check their status and have that information relayed to their doctor. GE HealthCare’s recent collaborations with AliveCor, creators of the medical-grade KardiaMobile 6L ECG device, and Pulsenmore, creators of an at-home ultrasound system for prenatal care, are making solutions more widely available so that doctors have more tools to monitor patients in the comfort of their own homes.

Passion for the Planet

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In many ways, Herwig Kaltenboeck lives a simple life. He lives on a small farm he runs with his wife, he brews beer with his brother, and he raises his children to love nature just like he does. But his impact is much larger than this. As environmental, health, and safety manager at GE HealthCare’s Zipf site, in Austria, Kaltenboeck is making important changes to help GE HealthCare reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2050. Under his purview, the site has gone solar and is moving away from gas heating, which significantly reduces energy usage. Kaltenboeck is leaving behind a legacy of environmentalism not only for his children but for GE HealthCare and the planet.

AI Improving the Patient Experience

MRIs are notoriously uncomfortable as they require the person getting scanned to lie perfectly still for extended periods in a claustrophobic, noisy tube, but they are a critical tool to image patients. Using powerful magnets and radio waves, MRIs construct detailed pictures of organs and soft tissues in the body, which can help a clinician diagnose a patient. With patient care top of mind, there is a desire to reduce long scan times to cut back on discomfort while maintaining a image quality. In the past couple of years, GE HealthCare has made huge strides in changing the MRI experience with the AIR Recon DL. Using deep-learning technology, AIR Recon DL significantly cuts down on scan time without sacrificing image quality and is compatible with PROPELLER and 3D imaging, which could ultimately improve image quality.

Healthcare With No Limits

GE HealthCare recently became a standalone medtech company and has a new mission in mind: to create a world where healthcare has no limits. The company’s purpose has always been to center healthcare around people — employees, patients, healthcare workers — but in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of serving a global community has come to the fore. The healthcare industry has problems that need to be addressed so that patients in need can receive the highest-quality care.

GE HealthCare will tackle the thorniest of healthcare’s challenges and streamline delivery of care by allowing the entire company’s focus to remain on compassion in care. Parts of the company’s history, such as its legacy of innovation, will carry on, while others, in accordance with its new mission, will help change the future of healthcare.

Our past innovations and projects reflect the values of our future by putting compassion at the center of everything GE HealthCare does. Moving ahead as an independent company, we’ll take this push to improve patient lives and the healthcare system even further.

REFERENCES

[1] Calculation based on American Cancer Society, “Cancer Facts & Figures 2022,” https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics/all-cancer-facts-figures/cancer-facts-figures-2022.html. In 2022, there will be an estimated 1.9 million new cancer cases diagnosed, and 609,360 cancer deaths in the United States. Many people with cancer need treatment with radiation therapy. In fact, about 60% of people with cancer receive radiation therapy. See National Cancer Institute, Radiation Therapy and You: Support for People with Cancer, https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/radiation-and-you-2021-508.pdf.

[2] Frost & Sullivan Analysis, 2019.

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